Victorian Premier Ben Carroll has blamed forgetfulness, human error and a child’s pencil case after accidentally driving away from a petrol station without paying.
Mr Carroll filled his car at a service station in Airport West late on Monday while running errands, but only discovered the mistake the following day after Victoria Police contacted the Department of Parliamentary Services.
He returned to the station on Tuesday night and settled the bill. Speaking on Wednesday, he said he had been on “dad duty” and dealing with a busy evening at home.
“Monday was a tough day for a lot of reasons, and I got home and I had a busy night on the phone, and my wife and I had a discussion,” Mr Carroll said.
He said his wife, Fiona, had planned to return their daughter Maddie’s friend’s pencil case, but he offered to do it while stopping for petrol.
“I said, ‘I’ll do it and I’ll get petrol’. And then I found out the following day I didn’t pay,” he said. “That has since been rectified.”
Mr Carroll, who has strengthened the Victorian Government’s approach to tackling crime since becoming premier in July, said the incident showed that politicians were not immune from ordinary mistakes.
He added that former deputy premier John Thwaites had contacted him to recount a more serious petrol station mishap, involving driving away with the nozzle and hose still attached to the car.
Victoria Police says petrol drive-off is not automatically a crime
Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said a petrol drive-off was initially treated as a civil matter unless there was evidence of criminal intent.
“If it turns out that it’s a criminal matter, there was intent, etc, etc, charges will follow subsequently. But everyone’s got the opportunity to address an error,” Mr Bush said.
He confirmed he was aware that the premier had paid the outstanding amount, adding that police were “very careful not to criminalise every petrol drive-off”.
Mr Bush said petrol station owners could suffer losses, but not every failure to pay was necessarily criminal.
